Guard passing with ADCC Trials Champion Jozef Chen! 🤯
Decoding the Method to Mastery — A Deep Dive into Jozef Chen's Guard Passing Genius
Every sport has its prodigies, its game-changers, the ones who rewrite the rulebook with their sheer talent and hard-earned skill. In the realm of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, names like Marcelo Garcia and Gordon Ryan have become legends, synonymous with innovation and dominance. But today, let's talk about a new name that's been creating ripples in the grappling community — Jozef Chen.
Yes, I'm putting it out there, and I'm well aware it's a bold statement considering we're just glimpsing the dawn of his career. But mark my words, Jozef is on a trajectory to become a force to be reckoned with in his weight division. Sure, he's not invincible — no champion ever is. Yet, it's his rapid rise to the top that's nothing short of astounding, a testament to what laser-focused dedication looks like in human form. His bjj is top-notch, but it's his relentless drive that truly sets him apart.
What’s cool about Jozef is how he learns. He’s mostly self-taught from videos, which is pretty amazing. He reminds me of all my favorite grapplers, rolled into one.
The B-Team recently dropped a gem of a video featuring a snippet of his guard passing playbook, and frankly, the depth and clarity of his techniques are nothing short of spectacular.
It’s clear, it’s smart, and it shows why Jozef’s someone to watch. Let’s break it down…
This is all taken from this video
I really encourage you to go to the source. Watch the video and the explanation from Jozef himself. Use this guide as a reference that you can take to the gym after you watch the video… It will work so much better if you do this!
Before we start:
First step it to get into the headquarters position (Split squat):
You want to make them play supine guard.
The way to accomplish this is to control their legs and lift them or flank them so they need to adapt to our angle and then we step into their legs inside position with one of our legs.
This is the initial position from where we will work from!
JC’s Passing System:
Initial Position Details:
Weight Distribution:
He talks about convexing ourselves over our partners, but we need to make sure we focus on pushing their knee to their chest instead of just smashing their knee:
After we get to the initial position where we smash their knee to their chest, we want to transfer the pressure we are making with our chest, to our rib/hip area. Basically we want to sprawl while we move ourselves higher over them:
Push his knee up and open! Elongate and open them up…
An important detail is to make sure your head is across their body and not on the same side of your legs:
Also, use your foot to push and elongate their bottom leg:
Passing:
After we get to the “initial passing position” with all the detail dialed in, we want to create a situation where they feel obliged to frame on your outside leg.
Create enough distance so they cannot scoop under the leg, but they are close enough to frame on the leg:
This will create an opportunity to bring your hand into the near side underhook:
Flare out your elbow to remove the knee frame:
This will allow you to move your knee into the pocket of their hip:
At the same time you are looking to lift your other knee, change your head positioning to the other side and encourage them to take a butterfly hook. Here’s the full movement:
Make sure you are flattening your partner’s hips and moving over their butterfly hook so it’s not powerful enough to unbalance you:
The next moves depend on what your opponent tries to do:
1. If they try to use the butterfly hook to unbalance you (frames on your body - Inside position):
Use your hand on their hips and your elbow on his quad so they cannot bring their knee to their chest:
Step up with your right leg and clear their knee:
You can go straight into the mount:
2. If they try to use the butterfly hook to unbalance you (frames on your knee):
Bring your hand to their knee:
Bring your hips up, and push the knee through:
Underhook the framing arm and go to mount:
And that wraps up our session today!
This one was a bit hefty, but trust me, it’s all gold and had to be shared in one go.
Fancy having this breakdown at your fingertips for gym time? Shoot me a message and I’ll flick a Notion link your way for easy mobile access.
Catch you later!
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